Any tips for painting an aluminum canoe so it looks somewhat decent and doesn't flake off the first time it hits the water? I am hopefully picking up a Meyers Sportspal 12' canoe on Saturday that is currently painted red, but the paint isn't in great shape, and I'm thinking I'd like to paint a base coat of tan and paint on some marsh grass type camo.

Do I need to completely strip it down to bare aluminum, or will a good sanding to remove any loose paint followed by a self etching primer do the trick? My dad has a paint shop and a spray gun, would that work better than rolling/brushing it on? I'm going to do it in the paint shop regardless, that way it stays out of the elements between coats.

I say I'm hopefully picking it up Saturday because the last few short canoes I've tried to buy have been sold to someone else after I had an agreement with the seller. This one was priced to sell, but the seller said he can't meet me until Saturday since he's meeting me halfway to buy something else from someone else who lives halfway between us. I offered him a bottle of maple syrup to sweeten the deal and thank him for holding it for me until this weekend. Fingers crossed! I'm guessing he'll get more offers on it since he priced it kind of low, but he told me over the phone he wasnt going to reneg on the price.

It's in fair shape, but I figure since I'm laid off I might as well out some time into some repairs. From the pics it looks like it is missing a rib or two and could use a new set of sponsons. Once I pick it up and it's for sure mine, I'll post some pics and keep the thread going with progress pics if theres any interest.

Any suggestions on what paint to use? I kind of like the flat paint look, but I'm thinking a clear coat will protect the paint better.

Thanks Rem, never occurred to me to google it.

Any of those 2.25 million results you would reccomend?

Thanks again for the help! *eyeroll*

If the paint is failing, it all needs to come off. Paint stripper is the easiest way but makes a mess. Sanding is slow going. I don't own a sand blaster but it would be the easiest way.

To paint aluminum, you need to scuff the surface to remove the molecular layer of aluminum oxide that forms on bare aluminum - nothing sticks to it very well. I sand with an 80 grit sand paper, just a few strokes.

Even with bare aluminum ( with no oxidized layer) you need the right primer. Aluminum has "low surface energy" which means all of the molecular bonds that are available at the surface are already used up. Materials with low surface energy don't hold paint well. The best aluminum primer is zinc chromate. Some states don't allow it so it can be hard to find. An etching primer made for aluminum is second best and will work well. Paint with the primer soon after sanding or within a few days, you aluminum oxide layer will have formed again.

The paint with whatever you like. I prefer the old style rustoleum enamel paint and I add valspar enamel hardener. Rustoleum takes weeks to really dry. If you try to sand 3 week old rustoleum it will gum up your sand paper because it's not fully dry yet. The hardener solves this problem. I usually roll or brush it but I have sprayed it by using acetone as a paint thinner. I've also bought paint from Kush Paints online. They make a "dead flat" enamel that seems to be exactly like rustoleum except that it's "dead flat" instead of glossy and they have all of the camo colors available. I've also paid them $10 to mix custom colors for me before. I picked out a color from my local hardware store and gave them the color number and they matched it perfectly.

Not anything about looks, but there are paints that you can apply that really make your canoe glide much easier. As long as you are going through the process of cleaning, scrubbing and painting you may want to inquire about the paint that makes the canoe move easier. I know trappers who have used this paint but I don't know the name or the cost.

Bryce

Good point Bryce. I almost asked about the effect of the paint on how well it glides in my original post, but figured it couldn't make much difference. Guess I was wrong. My thought is it would help ok the bottom of the canoe, but sounds like it could be expensive, and that's the part of the canoe most likely to get scraped up. I'll look into it. Use that google thing rem suggested.

The Best Paint for Aluminum Boat for 2020

•TotalBoat Aluminum Boat Paint.
•Majic Paints Camouflage Paint.
•TUFF Coat Non-Skid Coating.
•SEA HAWK PAINTS Aluminum Boat Paint.
•TotalBoat Marine Topside Paint Primer.
•Rust-Oleum Marine Metal Primer.
•Hunters Specialties Liquid Paint.
•Kiwi Grip Non-Skid Deck System.

I would use paint they use on gravity boxes.

I used some type of etching liquid to prep the metal. It was a long time ago but I think It was some type of concrete cleaner.

Use zinc chlorate for your primer coat.

Kem-400 from Sherwin Williams .

Whatever you do make sure its marine grade primer and paint, use a good etching compound or rough sand it first just did this with my little14 foot boat last year turned out great also you might consider using a good marine sealer around any rivets worth the money in my opinion

This canoe in particular has a center keel where the two pieces of aluminum are joined with rivets. I do plan on sealing that area with something. I may get a quart kit of that Fasco epoxy to cover the keel and surrounding area just for added peace of mind.

Since I have the time and my dad has the equipment, I'm thinking I'll go ahead and sand it down to bare metal. He has a sand blaster too, but I would use up quite a bit of sand by blasting the whole canoe and it's a pain to try and set up a recovery system outside. Some good elbow grease and an orbital sander should do the trick. I dont think I want to mess with paint stripper.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I bought a set of marsh grass stencils from Acid Tactical. I like the idea of "dead flat" paint, so I may do a base coat of Kush Paint in olive drab, then layer on some lighter tan and green grass and cattail patterns, after a good primer of course. I'll have to check out that zinc chlorate, but I know the rustoleum self etching primer is pretty easy to find. My dad paints restored snowmobile parts with his sprayer, so he can help me out with thinning the paint as necessary, unless I decide to roll it on.

I picked up the canoe today. After a little back and forth with the seller the last few days, we agreed on a price and I only had to drive 2 hours to pick it up. On the way back I even scored a great deal on a Frabill Ice Shuttle that's in pretty good shape for the shape she's in.

I expected the paint on the canoe to be in worse shape than it was, but now I'm thinking I'll be better off hitting the original paint job with a light sanding and just painting over it rather than taking it all the way down to bare aluminum. It will save time and expense, and I don't know that it would produce a much better final product if i sand it all the way down vs just painting over it.

I think I'll be picking up a quart of the Kush paints dead flat olive drab paint for the base layer and painting the details on with some rattle can Rustoleum flat camo paint. I am also ordering a new set of sponsons for the side since the ones it came with are in pretty rough shape. I'm excited to see how it turns out, and I'm really happy I finally have one of these canoes. I've been looking for something like this for a few years now.

They make a metal eching primer to help paint stick to aluminum.

I've seen that, I think Fleet Farm sells some. But I'm thinking I won't need to prime it if I'm painting over the original paint as long as I scuff up the original paint a but and wipe it down good before I put the new paint on.

Any input on painting over the original paint job? If it was one of the more neutral colors I'd probably just leave it, but I just don't care for the red.

Nice.Way to go.

Just scuff up the surface with some 220 grit.....wipe it down with some pre sol....to get the surface clean and ready for paint. I’d use a foam roller and tip it with a sponge brush....2 coats...just follow directions on the paint can

In the event that in your prep you sand through to base metal in a few spots, Rustoleum makes spray cans of self etching primer for use on aluminum.

A company called SEM ...also has a spray bomb ,that’s self etching primer....But read the directions...most self etching primers are NOT to be painted over. Most recommend.....spray a coat of self etching primer to bare Alu/steel....then the etch primer has to be top coated with a fill primer...also available in spray can through SEM. Once dry....sand with 400 ...clean ...and paint.